Elizabeth Owens Blackburne (1848-1894) was an Irish professional writer, novelist and biographer whose novels were mostly set in Ireland. After attending Trinity College, Dublin she published her first work in 1869, and moved to London in 1873 to pursue her career as a writer. These volumes, first published in 1877, contain a series of detailed biographies of Irish women who Blackburne considered pre-eminent. The biographies cover a broad range of women, including the semi-mythical Saint Brigit and Queen Macha, and are arranged chronologically. These volumes were the first biographical reference of Irish women to be published, and the balanced descriptions and extensive use of original sources ensure that they remain of value as a reference for researchers and historians. Volume 1 contains twenty biographies of Irish women from the early and medieval periods to the nineteenth century.